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Originally Posted by DBFIU

I can gaurantee you this car will not handle as well as the M3, that is why I said it is not geared toward the streep/track crowd. I think it is more of a cruiser type GT because of its:

1. weight
2. suspension/ride

I honestly don't know how you can come out with statement that is won't handle as well as an M3 without actually comparing the you. In fact the wording 'out handle' would suggest that it won;t be able to take corners as quickly as an M3 and this is something I seriously think you will find that it will do.

I would have to agree that on the track this car like the GTR will not sustain continuous lap at lap without either tyres or brakes over heating, unless the swap to ceramics and proper r-compound rubber is used.

Maybe, and I am only thinking out loud here, but maybe it would be best to wait until proper track comparisons are conducted before writing this car off.

Originally Posted by DBFIU

Acceleration in a straight line is probably very good which is what I had mentioned earlier, but there is more to a car than straight line acceleration, we of all people should know on a BMW forum.

Here is one area that I am a little disappointed in Audi, giving the car such long gearing to benefit economy will ultimately lead to affecting it's top end acceleration beyond normal speeds, i.e. over 130mph. I know this will probably only become an issue to our German member who have full use of the autobahns but it's still an error in judgement in my opinion.

Originally Posted by DBFIU

Hence I stand by my word, that car will be good at a lot of things, but not shine in any one particular category which can be a good thing for some or a bad thing, depending on what type of driver you are.

That is all.

The M3 shines really well as an allrounder, it marries practicality with top class performance. It's a great car but if you look around you will see others which offer either better balance, better acceleration, better handling, etc, etc but on each occasion these car are more one dimensional and that is why the M3 is so popular. Now unless I am greatly mistaken this all sounds like a car that doesn't excel at one thing but is good at almost all things, surely that is what the RS5 will also be doing. In fact the RS5 takes this to another level offering a better all weather handling package.

P.S.
Just to answer the critics that the RS5 isn't a little bit better than the M3, here is a small paragraph for Tom Ford (Topgear) after driving the RS5 on the track.

2:05pm

Final drive: it's been a good couple of days. Just finished at Ascari, and it turns out that the quattro boss was right: the RS5 is way more fun on a circuit than it has any right to be. In fact, it does feel lighter, more tempted into oversteer and generally a lot less understeery than I thought it might.

Basically, with the new 'crown gear' differential, it's probably the most amusing quattro Audi ever. There was a slight suspicion that the car might be a tad wayward, because Audi had disengaged the ESP 'off' button on the track cars; the car did move into oversteer, but got tidied up by the ESP before it went too far. But then we found the secret button in the glovebox and went out in the car again.

The surprise is that it was pretty much the same - no great big surprises, just a lovely release of oversteer. This thing is brill, just a different kind of speed to an M3 and C63. We like.